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PAPER CURRENCY.

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PAPER GURRENGY. Y No. 341,429. Patented May 4, 1886.

yUNITED STATES PATENT Orricn.

IRA M. PHELPS, OF SHAS'IA, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGANOR OF FIVE ONE-HUN- vDREDTHS TO FRED. HUGLE, CHARLES WALTER, AND THEODORE C.

BREGHT, ALL OF IVASHINGTON, D. C.

PAPER CURRENCY.

STEEGIFI-CATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 341.429, dated May 4, 1886.

Application filed February 2, 1886. Serial No. 190,647. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.- A

Be it known that I, IRA M. PHELPs, a citi zen of the United States, residing at Shasta, in the county of Shasta and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Paper Currency; and I do here by declare the following to' be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the artto which it appertains to make and use the same.

In the illustrations, Sheet I delineates the one'dollar, two-dollar, and live-dollar bills or notes belonging to and constituting the order of units. Sheet II delineates the ten-dollar, twenty-dollar, and fifty dollar bills or notes belonging to and constituting the order of tens. Sheet III represents the one-hundred-dollar, twohundred-dollar, and five'hundred-dollar bills forming the order of hundreds. same plan or system may be extended to in clude the higher orders of thousands and tens of thousands for government and other bonds.

The objects of my invention are, tirst, tov

prevent raising a bill or note by changing its denominational words and figures; second, to enable those who cannot read-white or blacl,foieign or native-toldistinguish denominations by means other than their printed words and figures, and thus to protect themselves against imposition and fraud; third, to enable any one to determine the denomination of a bill accidentally or malieiously destroyed by tearing or cutting, provided a fragment can be obtained on which is the smallest word, or even a single letter, fourth, to enable persons to determine the denomination of bills or notes so badly injured by fire or water as to render the denominational words and figures illegible;

fifth, to furnish additional means of identification easily recognized and understood by the most illiterate; to diminish the opportunities of fraud, and to augment the intrinsic value of our national currency by giving it additional elements of safety and reliability as a circulating medium among the scores of millions of our people who, owing to their occupation and opportunities, are not and never can be expert judges of paper currency. To accomplish these obj ects of great national value, I arrange the nine denominations (one dollar to five hundred dollars, inclusiva) into their natural orders of units, tens, and hundreds, each hav- The l ing three denominations, and to each order I give a distinctive color in strong contrast with the others. Thus, the oneldollar, twodollar, and five-dollar notes, constituting the order of units, twenty-dollar, and fifty-dollar notes, constituting the order oftens, are,or may be, yellow, and the denominations belonging to the order of hundreds may be blue, or any tint or color to distinguish them from the Others. This exceedingly simple and rational arrangement will forever put a. stop to raising notes from a lower to a higher orden (a one-dollar to a ten-dollar, for instance, or two'dollar to twenty-deban) as the difference in color, apparent as the bill itself, presents an obstacle that cannot be removed or overcome.

In association with distinctive colors I introduce a finely-engraved panel as ai conspicuous object on the face ofeach note, the length of which panel in inches or any suitable unit of measure depends upon and is governed by the number of denominational figures (Arabic numerals) required to represent the denomination of the bill. Ihus on each of the three notes belonging to the order of units the panel is one inch long, as determined by the one igure, 1 2, or 5, required to represent the denomination. Ou each of the three notes belonging to the order of tens (the order of two are or may be green; the ten-dollar,

figi'1res-l0, 20, 50) the panel is two inches' long, and in the order of hundreds (three figures) its length is three inches. Each panel is made the bearer of the denominational words and figures, there being one word for each inch as well as one ligure. Thus in the units thev sing'le word one, two, or

iive, and the single figure 1, 2, or 5 appear on the one-inch panel. On those of the tens order the two words ten dollars, twenty dollars, fifty dollars, and the two gures 10, 20, '50 appear on their respective two-inch panels, while the three-inch panels of the hundreds carry the necessary three words and their corresponding figures;

To raise a note to a higher order would make it necessary to lengthen the panel to accommodate the additional words and figures, and this cannot be done without covering up some other Vpart of the engraving-a` part of a portrait or some of the reading matter, for

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instancethereby causing a disfiguration too conspicuous topescape ordinary notice.

In order to prevent altering a note to a higher denomination in the same numerical order-as, for instance, one dollar to live dollars or twenty dollars to fifty dollars-I introduce several other novel features easily recognized and understood by the most illiterate, as they are made to represent denominations independently of words or figures.

It must be noticed that 1, 2, and 5 are the only significant figures used in United States currency; also, that the script letter, the old English, and Roman capitals are the only varieties or kinds of type used in printing the notes. i

' The association of a particular kind of type exclusively with a particular figure gives numerical value or significance tothe type, and the text or kind of letter is thus made to represent denominations as surely as the figures themselves. Thus I use the script text and no other in association with the figure l, old English with the figure 2, and Roman capitals with the figure 5, the eiphers of Vcourse not coming into the arrangement. In accordance with this rule, the one-dollar, tendollar, and one-hnndred dollar notes are printed wholly in script, the two dollar, twenty-dollar, and twohundred-dollar bills entirely in old English, and the lives, fifties, and ve hundreds in Roman capitals, the rule being two styles or kinds of type ou the face of any bill is evidence of fraud. Thus each denomination in the order to which it belongs has its own and exclusive style ofletter differing widely in appearance from that used in the other denominations, and when itis understood that the style or kind of letter is made to signify specific values without refer ence to the meaning of words or figures the mere changing of one word-a numeral adjective-or a figure will be of no avail, for to change a note to a higher denomination re,- quires the change of-every word and letter on its face to another and appropriate text. This feature also makes it easy to identify and prove the denomination of a bill accidentally or.maliciouslydestroyed by tearing or cutting, provided a fragment can be obtained on which is a single Word or letter.

Take, for example,theletter A in the word BEARERJ Roman capitals are associated only with the ligure 5; hence, if the paper is green, it was a five-dollar bill; if yellow, it was a fifty-dollar bill, or if blue, it was a fivehundred-dollar bill.

I also associate a peculiar design of printed border with each kind of type, thus making the borders to represent denominations indee pendently of type, words, or ligures. Thus all the notes in script (curved letters) have curved-line borders and their corners are curved or rounded. The old English notes have their borders made up of oblique or div agonal lines, and their oblique corners give obtuse angles, the characteristic angle of the tem, would be arranged as small or lower-case letters of old English type and the borders of all bills in Roman capitals have rectangular corners and are made up of rectangular figures, the right angle occurring frequently in this al phabet-an angle unknown to either of the other two. Thus the style of letter and style of border are in keeping with each other, and each is made to indicate denominations independently of the other.

It will be noticed that the panels heretofore described are given appropriate positions on the notes. Thus on the one-dollar, ten-dollar, and one-h undreddollar notes (the lowest denominations in their respective orders) the panel is low down, or near the bottom of the page. On the two-dollar, twenty-dollar, and two-hundred-dollar notes (the middle denomination of each order) it is in the middle, and on the highest denominations (the fives, fifties and five hundreds) it is near the the top. Position is thus made to signify denomination in the order, while length designates the order as before explained; and as it is impossible to change either of these features they are safe, simple, and reliable indicators of denominations, easily recognized and understood by those who cannot read a word of our or any other language.

It will be noticed further that the corners of the panels are made to coincide with the corners of the bills 011 which they are placed, (rounded, oblique, and square,) and thus they are made by their appropriate lengths and shapes' to indicate each and every denomina` tion, regardless of their position, words, or figures, color or text.

The Arabie numerals, including the ciphers, are also designed in keeping with the details ofthe bills on which they are placed. Thus on notes with rounded corners and curved let- .ters the figures also have their corners rounded, oblique on oblique cornered bills, and square on all bills whose printed borders have right angles, thereby carrying out in minutest detail the idea of harmony and rational association that characterizes the entire system. v

In the foregoing I have confined my specifications to the nine denominations embraced in the three .orders of units, tens, and hundreds, as illustrated in the three plates hereto annexed; but I extend the system to embrace the higher orders of bonds, or any com-I mercial paper or security issued in denomina- IOO IIO

tional orders. To illustrate: Bonds of all kinds may be issued in the orders of hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands, all of which, in conformity with the above-described sysfollows:

Hundreds. Thousands. Tens of thousands.

Of course neither the two-hundred nor twovthousand dollar denominations need be issued, as that isa question of expediency only, and their non-issue does not in any way vitiate 4o of each order the system. In these higher orders we have the same digits (1, 2, and 5) that occur in the denominations of our national currency. The rules governing the distinctive colors, kinds of letters or type, panels, positions, and other details, as described in the foregoing, are applied to and govern the features and items of the higher denominations of bonds last-above` given, thus making them, as Well as greenbacks, silver certificates, and national banknotes, proof against fraudulent changes or alterations and reducing the entire issue of national or other monetary paper to a simple, symmetrical, rational and homogenous system, readily comprehended by every one and guaranteeing to all an absolute immunity for all time to come from losses by this means of fraud.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and Wish to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In paper currency, a series of notes or bills provided with panels bearing the denominational Words and iigures,the length of which panels in inches or any convenient unit of measure corresponds with the number of figures appearing thereon, as specified.

2. In paper currency, a series of notes having the text in a distinctive and exclusive variety of character in association with a particular denominational figure, as script with the figure 1, old English with the figure 2, and Roman capitals with the figure 5, regardless of ciphers, as and for the purpose set forth;

3. In paper currency, a series of notes arranged in orders, as specified, having a peculiar and distinctive style of printed border for each denomination in the order to which it belongs,

the corresponding denominations having similar borders--that is,

a distinctive style of border in association with the iigure 1, a different style-in association with the figure 2, and another in association with the figure 5 regardless of ciphers, as and Afor the purpose set forth.

4. In paper currency, 'a series of` notes or bills arranged in orders, as specied, and provided with panels of different lengths proportioned to the number of iigures appearing thereon, said panels being placed at the bottom in bills of the lowest denomination in each order, at the center in bills of the middle denomination in each order,and at the top in bills of the highest denomination in each order, substantially as shown and set forth.

5. In paper currency, a series of notes or bills arranged in orders, as specified, each order having a distinctive color in association with denominational panels of distinctive lengthsas for example, green for bills having a one-inch panel, yellow for those having a two-inch panel, and blue for those having a three-inch panel, the notes or bills, all bearing such panels belonging to and constituting the orders of units, tens, and hundreds, respectively, as and for the purpose specified.

6. Iii-paper currency, a series of notes having the text in a distinctive and exclusive variety of character in association with a particular denominational figure, as script with the figure 1, old English with the figure 2, and Roman capitals with the figure 5, regardless of ciphers, each variety of character being associated with a distinctive color, as and for the purpose set forth.

IRA M. PHELPS. lVit-nesses:

T. C. BRI-H1, D. l?. GoWL. 

